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Rasputin
Rasputin is an entity not only from your nightmares, but he literally created your nightmares! This spooky dude was originally created by the goddess of the dreamworld, Dream. She created Rasputin as a way of delegating some of the most challenging and disturbing work, i.e. the creation and proliferation of nightmares. During a time of great duress in the Dreaming, Rasputin escaped Dream's oversight and absconded to an unknown location. From there, he has begun work on his masterpiece - a true Night Terror. Description Rasputin appears as an old man in a hooded brown robe with bushy black eyebrows, piercing dark brown eyes, a hooked nose, gaunt, angular features, and a long, pointy, salt-and-pepper beard that drapes over his mouth, chin, and chest. His hairy hands are wrinkled with long, slender fingers tipped by yellowish but well-manicured nails. History Rasputin was created by Dream to be responsible for the nightmares of mortals. He would manifest the "terror of the month" to project into sleeper's dreamworlds, and in return, gained a bit of energy from the fear his creations would cause. This was a well-managed process with clear, consistent boundaries and limitations to power put into place by Dream and her machinations, with external enforcement from various deities and the integrity of the order of the forces of the multiverse. In 1562, said integrity fell to pieces. A powerful force of evil and destruction tore through the outer planes, leveling any protections Dream built and releasing an unknowable variety of malevolent forces that were otherwise bound for eternity by the efforts of gods. In the wake of this chaos, Rasputin escaped Dream's oversight. Boundless and without reservation, addicted to an endless feedback loop of the power he drew from the terror he created, Rasputin carved out a hiding place in the Material plane and began his work: ushering in a new, world-wide nightmare. Campaign Activity Our heroes first learned of Rasputin when they dreamt that they met Dream in a visit to the Dreaming during a shared dream. In their brief exchange, Dream advised that first and foremost, they should never say Rasputin's name. This would "summon" Rasputin, leading to who-knows-what. Dream noted that Rasputin had stolen her pouch of sand and was using it to put mortals to sleep. Rasputin was growing more powerful by the day, she said, and the party had little time to spare. Dream was not aware of Rasputin's endgame, but assumed that he wanted to spread his night terrors and ultimately put all of the mortal races to sleep. She feared his potential power, given his newfound control over consciousness. Rasputin has been summoned a variety of times by party members saying his name. Encounters between the party and Rasputin have escalated each time, from simply being awakened from a deep sleep to staying asleep for a week. At first, Rasputin was only able to be summoned while the party slept. However, his power and presence was later shown to carry over to the Material, where he was able to put the party to sleep while they were still conscious. The risk that comes with saying his name apparently even affects our narrator, Morte. Power and Abilities Rasputin is the god of Nightmares, the penultimate creator of any and all nightmares, night terrors, and waking nightmares such as those experienced during sleep paralysis. His demonstrated abilities include control over the consciousness of mortals, instantly waking them from sleep or rendering them unconscious, and is able to keep mortals asleep for potentially indefinite periods of time. It has yet to be shown whether he can cause legitimate harm. Rasputin has complete control over the Dreaming when he moves through it, creating whatever he wills within only the confines of an infinite imagination. His creative style is rather dark.